Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

94 ST. MATTHEW.
these plants, to do nothing, but to trust to God's
eye, and to commit ourselves to his almighty hand,
which the least of his works discover and manifest
unto us. He who makes the lilies of the field
grow, cannot he augment our substance, if it be for
his glory and our advantage? Nothing is more
capable of increasing our confidence towards God,
than to consider his works with attention, and to
meditate upon his conduct.
" 29. And yet I say unto you. That even Solo-
mon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of
these. 30. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass
of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you,
O ye of little faith?"
Christ confounds, at one and the same time, both
the luxury of the rich in their superfluities, and the
distrust of the poor as to the necessaries of life.
Let man, who is made for heaven and eternity,
learn from a flower of the field, from a flower of a
moment's duration, how low the care of providence
vouchsafes to stoop. All our disquiets and distrusts
proceed from want of faith. A man is rich when
he has faith: that supplies all wants. The poor are
not really so, unless destitute of faith.
"31. Therefore take no thought, saying. What
shall we eat? or. What shall we drink? or, Where-
withal shall we be clothed ? 32. (For after all these
things do the Gentiles seek ;)"
The fifth reason is, that to concern ourselves
about these wants with anxiety, as if there was no
such thing as providence in the world; with great
affection towards earthly enjoyments, as if we ex-